Communication devices having a network interface for connecting to a device through a network and a local interface for connecting with a peripheral device are well known in the art. For example, Japanese patent application publication No. 2005-110086 discloses a digital color multifunction device having a local area network (LAN) interface and a universal serial bus (USB) interface.
Conventional techniques for controlling a peripheral device connected to the communication device include a technique for controlling the peripheral device based on a command received directly from a main processing unit (an application program) in the communication device, and another technique for controlling the peripheral device through a network by another device connected to the network (see Japanese Web site “Silex Technology”; URL: http://www.silex.jp/japan/products/network/usb/sx2000us.html).
One technology designed for controlling the peripheral device over the network is the USB over IP (registered trademark) technology. The USB over IP technology controls the peripheral device through an IP network by another device connected to the IP network by encapsulating USB data to be transmitted to the peripheral device in IP packets and transmitting the packets to the communication device connected to the peripheral device via the IP network.